Religions > Atheism > Bush invokes Iraq as uproar over spying grows-lawmakers call for investigation
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
21 Dec 2005 08:31:53 PM |
| Object: |
Bush invokes Iraq as uproar over spying grows-lawmakers call for investigation |
You know, I am starting to consider Shrub may very well be impeached.
President Cheney will pardon him.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10507329/
Bush invokes Iraq as uproar over spying grows
President claims success overseas while lawmakers call for
investigation
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:04 p.m. ET Dec. 18, 2005
WASHINGTON - President Bush is seizing on Iraq’s elections to claim
significant progress as he faces an uproar in Congress over whether he
exceeded his powers in conducting the war on terror.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Bush was addressing the nation
following ***** Cheney’s surprise visit to Baghdad where the vice
president asserted that Iraq’s emerging political structure ultimately
will take responsibility for its own security.
The Pentagon hopes to be able to reduce U.S. troop levels as Iraqi
security forces become more capable of defending their own country,
but it is unclear when that point will be reached. The usual U.S.
troop level this year of about 138,000 was strengthened to about
160,000 this fall out of concern for a potential rise in violence
during voting in October and December.
Bush’s address followed a string of weekend attacks by insurgents in
Iraq that pierced three days of relative calm. Nineteen people died,
including two relatives of a senior Kurdish official.
The president’s embrace of the Iraqi political process comes amid
revelations that the National Security Agency has engaged in domestic
surveillance without court warrants for the past four years.
House and Senate Democratic leaders, and at least two Senate
Republicans, called for congressional hearings and investigations.
Bush said the eavesdropping was critical to saving American lives in
the war against al-Qaida and consistent with U.S. law and the
Constitution.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said it
is “extremely dangerous” for the president to wrap himself in the law
and then refuse to identify a law or a constitutional provision which
justifies a wiretap on American citizens without court approval.
Sunday night’s speech is the president’s fifth in less than three
weeks on Iraq, as Bush describes the path he wants to take in 2006.
A new poll shows that a strong majority of Americans oppose an
immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. The AP-Ipsos poll found 57
percent of those surveyed said the U.S. military should stay until
Iraq is stabilized.
“This is a remarkable couple of days for the Iraqi people,” said
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also appearing on NBC. “They went
out and voted in huge numbers. ... I’ve heard a number of leaders —
Sunni, Shia and Kurd — say that their goal is to find people across
lines with whom they can work.”
There is skepticism on Capitol Hill about the U.S. military’s ability
to sustain forces in Iraq indefinitely and about the ability of Iraqis
to carry the load.
“We failed to expand the Army and Marine Corps as many of us wanted to
happen a long time ago,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” McCain said that even though militias
control some parts of the Iraqi military and there is still
corruption, there now are certain towns where the Iraqi military has
been able to take over from U.S. troops.
Regarding a turnover to Iraqi troops, Senate Democratic Leader Harry
Reid said Bush “has to tell us how we’re going to get there. The
people on the ground said there is one battalion that can fight alone.
“The last speech he gave, he used the word ‘victory’ 14 times. What
does that mean?” asked Reid, appearing on “Fox News Sunday.”
Levin said Iraqis must be told the United States will reconsider its
presence unless the new constitution is revised to give the Sunni-Arab
community a bigger stake in running the country.
“That’s the club, that’s the leverage which we must exercise,” said
Levin. “They’ve got to unify in order to beat the insurgency.”
A disabled Iraq war veteran who is running for Congress in Illinois
said she thinks going into Iraq was a mistake.
“We should have been fighting the enemies that attacked us at home on
9/11,” said Major Tammy Duckworth, appearing on ABC’s “This Week.” “We
should have been out there trying to catch Osama bin Laden.”
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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